Recipe for Homemade Southwestern Chicken Pot Pie-Secret Recipe Club

This recipe is courtesy of Lynne at Café Lynnylu, my SecretRecipe Club assignment for February.  Lynne is a photographer and lives in Savannah, Georgia.  She attended school at the University of Georgia.  I think I was meant to have Lynne’s blog as I also attended the University of Georgia and lived just south of Savannah on St. Simons Island growing up-my Mom, brother, and niece all live there still.  Small world, huh?

Recipe for No Bake Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars-Secret Recipe Club

Warning...dangerous.  Yes, these little goodies are very good and hard to resist.  

Recipe for Spinach Gnocchi

I was intrigued when I saw a recipe for Spinach Gnocchi in the New York Times Health section.  It sounded like one of those too good to be true recipes...good intention but bad result.  Not True!

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!!

I hope you have a safe and happy New Year and may 2013 be everything you desire, and more!

Recipe for Holiday Biscuits and Ham

I hope you're having a peaceful and pleasant holiday season!  Growing up in the south, biscuits were a table staple.  There were more biscuit recipes than beehive hairdos!  Mayonnaise biscuits, butter biscuits, rolled biscuits, drop biscuits,... and one of my favorites, cream biscuits.

These yummy little cream biscuits, spread with some jalapeno (or raspberry) jam,  nestled around a piece of ham, and sprinkled with some lemon salt are sure to be a favorite.  I served them for both brunch and as an appetizer for a dinner party this holiday.  They can be made ahead of time and served room temperature or warmed briefly in the oven.  Be sure to use the biscuit cutting technique as described so the biscuits can rise properly and pull apart beautifully when you are ready to add the ham slices.

Tragedy

Recipe for Squash, Spinach, and Mushroom Brown Rice Risotto

Before I made this recipe I thought "no way can brown rice make a creamy yummy risotto."  Guess what? I still feel that way.  However, this rice dish was tasty and I was happy with all the veggies and the good nutrition in the recipe and that it was under 250 calories per serving. 

Featured Favorite

You know those days?  The ones where you have good intentions but get derailed by either how busy you are, how good your book and the couch are working for you, or the lack of what you need at the store?  Here's one of my favorites for those situations...

Happy Cooking!

Hope you are going to have a great Turkey Day!  Just a few teaser photos from prep day in the kitchen.
Above...all the fixin's for our dressing-good bread, onion, celery, apple, chestnuts, herbs, salt and pepper, stock; ready to be baked tomorrow.

And I hope we can stay out of this until tomorrow...

Chef Dennis's amethyst topping bubbling away-cranberries, blueberries, sugar, lemon, cornstarch.  Topping for cheesecake tomorrow.

The green beans are washed and prepped; the butternut squash is peeled and cubed; and the potatoes are washed and cubed-soaking in water until tomorrow.  Oh, and of course, Tom the turkey is all ready to go!

And finally, maybe most importantly to ensure a well rested and energetic cook tomorrow...reservations at the local tapas place for dinner tonight!  What are you prepping today?  Happy times in the kitchen!

Recipe for Herbed Pizza Dough-Secret Recipe Club

It's been a while since I made homemade dough of any kind.  I was making fresh bread every week for a while but events this year have had me away from home a lot, so no dough making for me recently.  It was therefore easy to pick the recipe from my Secret Recipe Club assignment this month!

Recipe for Shrimp and Veggie Curry

Here's a recipe for a tasty, quick meal.  I always keep some frozen shrimp in the freezer.  They can be defrosted quickly in a bowl of room temperature water.  Of course, if you have access to freshly caught shrimp, use those. This quick to prepare curry is a little crunchy, a little creamy, with lots of intense flavor, but mild heat.  You can up the heat factor if you're a "hottie".  

Recipe for Butternut Squash and Chicken Apple Sausage Pasta

Well, we're back from a long vacation and visits to see family.  After weeks of very little cooking, it's hard to get back in to the groove but I'm trying!  I thought I had misplaced my mojo for looking at what's in the pantry/fridge and throwing something together but I was pleased with how this turned out. Even though we don't have a real "Fall" here on Maui, cooking with butternut squash always makes me feel like we do. 

Recipe for Green Goddess Asparagus

This is a versatile, easy recipe my brother and I put together for a picnic this summer.  I've done something similar with green beans too, but I think I slightly prefer the asparagus.  The secret to keeping the veggies nice and green is to sprinkle about a TBSP of baking soda in the water while cooking.  Cook just a few minutes until still slightly crispy and then quickly shock in an iced water bath to stop the cooking.  Marinate in dressing, add some seasonings (if needed) and chopped tomatoes and enjoy!

Recipe for Cilantro Lime Pesto Roasted Chicken

I love all the fun pesto concoctions you can find these days!  Different nuts, different herbs...  I have my standby pesto recipe that I adore but I found a locally produced cilantro, lime, macadamia nut pesto here on Maui and wow is it good!  I had a nice organic free range chicken in the fridge and tried the pesto out in my usual roasted chicken recipe.  This was a flavorful, easy dish. 

This roasted chicken technique turns out perfect every time.  I did, however, almost drop this one transferring it from the pan to the cutting board.  Hence the torn up skin where I clamped down with the tongs!  Never fear, the chicken made it to the table just fine!

Recipe for Fun Rice

While we were eating this, I was silently musing over what to call it.  Mr. ELEB solved the problem for me, calling it "fun rice".  I liked the name-it fit-so there you have it!

Recipe for Inside Out Caprese Bison Burgers

From Mr. ELEB:  "that's another recipe you can make ANY time you like!"  In other words, I think he liked these caprese bison burgers.  If you don't have access to ground bison (buffalo), you can use ground turkey or ground beef (lean).  If you haven't tried bison, I highly recommend it.  You can read more about bison here (and order some really yummy meat).

Recipe for Crispy Pan Fried Mahi-Mahi

Including fish each week on our menus is pretty easy here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  And now with the increasing prevalence of high quality, sustainable, flash frozen fish in most grocery stores, anyone anywhere can too.  Fish that is processed and frozen right on the boat after being caught retains practically the same nutrient value and flavor as fresh fish (maybe more depending on how "fresh" that fish really is at your grocery store!)

The addition of pistachios to the panko made for a fun change of pace.  The flavor was subtle but worth the extra steps.

Recipe for Curried Chicken and Rice Casserole

We have a great Indian restaurant on Maui and enjoy getting together with a bunch of friends to go stuff ourselves on curries, naan, tandoori meat, lentil dishes.....   If it's just the two of us craving Indian flavors, I'll throw together an easy curry.  This recipe is an adaptation of a wild rice and chicken casserole I used to make when my kids were small.

Recipe for Stuffed Mediterranean Turkey Burgers

Mmmm, little pockets of goodness tucked inside a moist, delicious turkey burger!  These are a little too fragile for the grill.  They cook up quickly in a pan with a little olive oil for browning.  Make sure not to overcook or they will be dry.

Recipe for Sesame Salmon and Asparagus

I've made something similar to this before with capers, lemon, and dill over pasta which Mr. ELEB loves.  I didn't have capers, pasta, or dill but I did have some great sockeye salmon so I pulled out some alternatives and, voila', a great dinner was on the table in under 20 minutes.